Cheyney University Professor and HRTM Program in the Regional Spotlight

October 12, 2013

Dr. Ivan Turnipseed, Associate Professor and Coordinator of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management (HRTM) at Cheyney University, is juggling many balls these days. The newly elected department chair of Hospitality & Recreation Management is busy preparing for the National Society of Minorities in Hospitality (NSMH) Northeast Regional Conference which will be held at Cheyney October 19. The meeting will begin at the Wyndham Garden Glen Mills Wilmington on Friday and move to the CU campus on Saturday. Turnipseed expects some 250 students, faculty, and staff to attend from Universities such as Cornell, Boston, Drexel, Temple, Penn State, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Delaware State. He also expects a number of industry leaders.

Turnipseed joined the Cheyney University faculty in August 2012. He now plays the lead role in the administration of the HRTM Program, the Recreation & Leisure Management Program, and faculty employees in the Athletics Program. He is part of an Online Teaching Fellows cohort which will enable him and others to offer HRTM online courses beginning in fall 2014.

“As teaching and student engagement is my first love,” Turnipseed remarks, “one of my proudest accomplishments is an increased emphasis on industry exposure and hands-on experience by incorporating one or more field experiences into most Program courses.” He went on to list examples such as New York City’s 28-acre Chelsea Piers Sports & Entertainment Complex (Introduction to Service Management), the Joseph Anthony Retreat and Spa in Glen Mills, PA (Spa Management); McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP in Morristown, NJ (Hospitality Law); Pinocchio’s Restaurant & Beer Garden in Media, PA (Classical Wine, Beer, & Spirits); and Revel and The Borgata in Atlantic City (Senior Seminar).

As a strong student resource advocate, Dr. Turnipseed has spearheaded several successful requests totaling more than $25,000 for Cheyney student and faculty delegations to participate in five regional and national hospitality, interdisciplinary, and recreation conferences. In addition, he recently obtained a $2,000 Title III grant which, he says, “will provide Senior Seminar students four weeks of intensive executive training via HOTELsim—a dynamic and competitive Internet-based hotel management simulation that is remotely facilitated by an experienced industry professional.”

This past spring, Dr. Turnipseed arranged for 15 HRTM Cheney students to attend the NSMH National Conference & Career Fair in Orlando, FL. The conference provided the students opportunities for networking, growth and development. In fact, the students had formal interviews that lead to four of them getting on-the-spot, salaried job offers. Piggy-backing on that success, CU student Aaron Yancey was appointed National Public Relations Director and Cheyney University was selected to host the upcoming NSMH Northeast Regional Conference..

While Dr. Turnipseed is active with the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) and a member on such University-wide bodies as the Faculty Senate, the Curriculum Committee, and the Sabbatical Committee, he is involved in service outside of the Cheyney community, as well. For example, he is an advisor to the National Black Graduate Student Association, he sits on the Membership & Education Committee of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Multicultural Affairs Congress, and he is Assistant Director for Programs & Initiatives at the Center for African American Research & Policy for which he has co-convened and served as the chief meeting planner and director for the 2012 and 2013 Annual National Summits.

Dr. Turnipseed also conducts an active research program which, during his brief tenure at Cheyney, has resulted in seven refereed presentations—two international, four national, and one at the state level. And, while one of the presentations entitled …And justice for all: The introduction of perpetual proportionate affirmative action was recently published in the Journal of Progressive Policy and Practice, two others are currently in-press in refereed international and national periodicals.

Turnipseed received his Ph.D. from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Hospitality Administration with emphases on social stratification in organizations, tourism marketing, and strategic human resource management. He has more than a decade of professional experience in the lodging, conventions, and meeting planning industries. In addition, he has years of academic experience as a faculty member and an administrator at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey; Central Connecticut State University; Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania; the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and Monroe College of The Bronx and New Rochelle, NY.

While Dr. Turnipseed says that he is “invigorated daily by the boundless energy and enthusiasm of his students,” he attributes much of his success at Cheyney to strong support from his program, department colleagues, and University administration.